A Tucson purse company born from a woodworking experiment is heading to New York Fashion Week in September, and they want their hometown to get a first look before they go.

TimberTote is a collaboration between Jason Robinson, owner of Sport Class Customs, and Chelsea Adler, owner of Desert Mariposa Boutique.

Robinson and Adler were both vendors at Proper Shops in downtown Tucson during the summer of 2023, when they decided to combine their skillsets and create something new.

Robinson, who has a background in woodworking, approached Adler, whose background is rooted in fashion and design.

"I came to her and I was just like, 'Hey, there's this technique in woodworking that you can cut these staggered lines and it helps make this wood bend without breaking, maybe we can collaborate and make something,'" Robinson said.

Adler was skeptical at first.

"I said, 'We can't really wear wood,'" she said, "And he said, 'What about a wooden purse?'"

From there, the signature TimberTote purse was born, with Robinson and Adler finding instant success and a positive response from the community.

In the years since, they've evolved their product and business, moving away from fabric sourcing to creating 3D designs in their new studio in downtown Tucson's Redondo Tower Condos.

Customers can come shop their designs in person, while the duo prints custom fabrics in the background.

On August 14, TimberTote is teaming up with Whiskey Del Bac to host their first fashion show, which will serve as a fundraiser for their trip to New York Fashion Week.

The show will feature an assortment of purses, clothes and accessories that will travel to New York in September.

Robinson and Adler wanted their first show to be in Tucson because of the community's tremendous support, saying it's important that their designs debut locally before making their way to Fashion Week.

"We thought about doing a show after and I was like, no, I feel like Tucson should get the opportunity to get a first look," Adler said. "Then we can show it here and then we can take it to New York and show it there and feel good about knowing that like the people that have supported us from day one are supporting us from afar and they got to be a part of the experience."

TimberTote's New York Fashion Week show is a private event for buyers, journalists, photographers and influencers. With TimberTote currently offered in 45 retailers across the country, Robinson and Adler are hoping to find additional buyers and expand their reach.

The collection will be heavily inspired by Adler's unique perspective on a specific word.

"The collection itself is a physical representation of the word 'balance,'" Adler said. "Balance between divine feminine, divine masculine, balance between magic and nature, balance between life and death. When representing all of that, I'm combining soft elements like chiffon and velvet lace with hard elements like metal and wood, like the purses."

Their collection includes a variety of innovative designs, including wooden corsets and matching purses.

"The corsets will be … stained the color that will match the purse that's being paired with it, and we'll have the fabric adhered to it, representing the image that's on the inside of the purse as well," Adler said.

The colors and images also reflect the balance theme of hard and soft, with nods to Tucson and Latin American fashion history rooted in TimberTote's balance of engineering and design.

"The images of the inside of the purse are of the same kind of thing, it's representative of soft florals matched with a dangerous animal. Or really bright colors, the concept of Hecate. It's kind of celestial, so we're combining hard and soft, which kind of goes into what TimberTote is on its own," Adler said.

The New York opportunity came through Scarlett Tompkins, TimberTote's director of wholesale and collaborations, who found and submitted the application.

"She's constantly searching for new opportunities for us and stuff like that," Adler said.

While Adler signed off on Tompkins submitting the application, she didn't expect anything would come from it.

"I've studied design formally and I've been in fashion design since 2008," Adler said. "New York Fashion Week was so far off my radar of being possible. It's definitely been a dream. It was just not something that I felt I was at the point of being able to accomplish."

Two weeks after Tompkins sent in TimberTote's application, Adler received an email from Fashion Week's organizers inquiring about her lookbook. When Adler did not immediately reply, they sent another email, urging her to send her portfolio. That's when she realized it wasn't a joke.

"I was like, 'Oh, okay. I'll get right on it' and so I sent it," Adler said. "And then almost threw up after sending it. They emailed me about a week later, not saying yes or no, but asking about my fashion show experience. I have plenty of fashion experience and so I give them my fashion show resume. I think about a week later, we got the email that we were in."

But the opportunity came with a price tag.

"You have to pay for your place in the show and then you're traveling across the country," Adler said. "We have to stay there, we have to eat, we can't starve, we're not the models so we figured it was going to cost a pretty big chunk of money."

Robinson estimated the trip would cost around $10,000 and was immediately concerned about how they would raise the money in order to attend. His first instinct was to decline the invitation.

Robinson wanted to say yes but couldn't get past the cost. Adler pushed forward anyway, and the two eventually landed on a plan.

Once the reality set in, Adler said, the work began. And so did the creativity.

"We're raising the funds, we're going to do our own runway show here as a preview," Robinson said. "We're getting support, and those dollars are directly going towards the New York Fashion Week."

They created a limited edition fundraiser purse themed around the trip. The interior features a New York Daily Times background with sketched models, and "meet me in New York" in red font hovers over two of them. "NYFW 2026" is carved on the front, with red outlining the black purse and brown detailing.

"This is not reflective of the collection that's walking," Adler said. "This is specifically dressed for the sake of fundraising. And then we did a t-shirt with a similar graphic."

With ticket sales and fundraiser purchases, they are about 20% toward their goal. The Tucson show is in August and the New York show isn't until September, so there's still time.

The fashion show is a 21-and-up event, with closed-toe shoes required for entry. The event will include food trucks, whiskey tasting, a hat bar, flash tattoos and a designer meet-and-greet.

Seating for the fashion show is limited to about 60 attendees. To purchase tickets or check out their NYFW collection, visit timbertotepurse.com or their Instagram account @timbertotepurse.

Katlyn Vargas is a University of Arizona student and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at katlynvargas@arizona.edu.

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